Run Red Hare
by Ziggurat Rolsovitch
Summary: AU: The Guan siblings survive the night at Fan Castle, with the aid of the great spirit Red Hare, but in the mix are caught up in the chaos of The Three Kingdoms, greed, corruption, death and vengeance. Are their bonds strong enough to keep them together or will they be torn painfully and agonizingly apart by a war that has lost all sense and reason?
1. Chapter 1

Title: Run Red Hare  
Category: Games » Dynasty Warriors  
Author: Ziggurat Rolsovitch  
Language: English  
Rating: T

Disclaimer: I own a copy of the game, but not the copyright.  
A/N:  
A/N: I was searching around to see if there were any stories similar to this and... unfortunately there were absolutely none. I really also wanted to include Red Hare so... he takes a spotlight to some degree. I desperately wanted to see some fics of the Guan family. I know the game isn't historically correct, but it's a game. It's just for fun. Let's roll with it.

* * *

Guan Yinping was fully focused on the battlefield, through the downpour and mist she'd lost sight of her father and brother's whom she was supposed to keep up with to escape this hopelessly lost battle that they were engaged in. They'd gone on foot to escape while Guan Ping held off any other's that would try and follow them. All that she could do now, despite not wanting to leave any family behind was follow this straight direction away from the sounds of battle and keep going, hoping that it was going to link her back up with her family.

Except she kept walking and walking until she was out of the thick muddy knee high water and onto a somewhat higher ground when she saw something in the distance, two soldiers. One on top of the other and using a fist to beat the soldier beneath him 's face in. With a gasp and a hand suddenly being pressed over her mouth to suppress it she realized she recognized the green and as she got closer recognized the man, wasn't a man, but the boy that was her adopted brother Guan Ping, helpless due to severe injuries and unable to stop the Wei soldier that mercilessly continued to beat on him.

"This… will teach you… to stop… getting up… you little… shit…" The Wei soldier punctuated each word with a punch.

"Stop!" She yelled, and the Wei soldier glanced at her suddenly grabbing his bow he aimed at her, intending to beat her with his weapon being long ranged, but just as he fired Guan Ping used the last ounces of his strength and shoved the Wei Soldier's arm so that the arrow flew, but only grazed her cheek, if not for his intervention she'd be dead. The Wei soldier was infuriated, shoving Guan Ping's arms off to the side and grabbed a knife from his belt, raising it over Guan Ping's face and Yinping not knowing what else to do quickly threw her heavily weighing weapon at the soldier and he yelped in shock and agony as the heavy weapon hit him full force and the weight sunk his face into the mud, cutting off his air as he struggled, but the more he struggled the worse he made it before his panic induce an involuntary inhale that invited mud into his lungs.

"Brother!" Yinping quickly kneeled beside him and pulled his upper body up and laid his head in the cradle of her lap instead of the icey cold mud beneath him. His eyes were extremely unfocused as he stared at her, trying his best to make sense of things and as she inspected his body for wounds she took notice of the arrow that had pierced his armor, reaching all the way through and out the outside as well, but she was too afraid to pull it out. For now she thought of the best way to get him out when fingertips grazed the cut on her cheek.

"Yinping… you are hurt…" His voice came out grainy and speaking the words made him cough up blood and his hand slipped, leaving a trail of mud and blood down her cheek, yet she caught his hand and brought it back to the place against her cheek and turned her face into it. His hands felt so unusually cold.

"Speak for yourself. You are the one hurt… please save your breath… brother…" She urged, but of course he didn't listen to her at all.

"Why did you come back…?" The words were heavily slurred as somehow, somehow he tried to force his body up. To get up and to move and do what he commanded of it.

"I got separated from father… Please! Do not get up!" It was her fear that he was going to injure himself further, but he forced himself into a sitting position, though it was clear even in sitting he was heavily slouched in agony and weariness.

"I will take you to father…" Guan Ping promised gritting his blood stained teeth as he pulled himself from the muck and the mud and stood up; forcing himself into a tall and proud stance despite how much pain she could see it caused him. He held his hand out for her to take and she wiped at the tears that started falling. "You will die if you stay here. Yinping… come."

She settled her hand in his much larger one, only showing that she would go with him, she always would, but she used her own strength, rather than his to stand on her own so he wouldn't use any reserves, because he needed to keep up his strength.

Deep down, Guan Ping knew that he was going to die, but he would not die before he made sure that Yinping was safe with their father and siblings. It was so difficult for him to see in this, not only was there rain and mist, but there was mud, rain water and blood in his eyes, or at least eye as his other one had completely swollen shut from the beating he received and it made him feel awful that the son of the God of War the great Guan Yu had fallen so low as to be defeated like that. It made his heart feel so heavy, but there was one thing he would not allow and that was for anything to happen to Yinping on his watch, even if it took his very last breath away from him.

However as he took a step his leg suddenly gave out on him and if not for Yinping's strength holding him he'd have gone face first into the mud. Guan Ping glanced down at his left leg and noticed the gaping gash in his left thigh; that explained it all too well.

"Brother… does it hurt?" She asked quickly, wanting to tend to the injury, but he stopped her by raising a finger, a silent way of asking her to just wait a minute and let him explain.

"No. It is just cold."

Yinping frowned greatly upon hearing his words, but she understood his meaning exactly. He wasn't in pain, not anymore, because he was frozen above all else. She couldn't decide if that was a good thing or not that his veins were thick with ice.

Guan Ping stopped suddenly upon hearing a shrill neighing nearby and he sped up a bit, as much as his beaten batter would allow and found Red Hare, in thick mud and caught in the branches of a fallen tree; the whites of his eyes showing his absolute terror.

"Red Hare! Calm down!" He tried to reason with the horse and moved closer to untangle him, which he surprisingly allowed. Red Hare was much smarter than others gave him credit for. Once Guan Ping had freed Red Hare he handed the reins over to Yinping. "Take him and find father."

"I am not leaving you!" She argued and Red Hare snorted loudly at the sudden shout near his sensitive ears, beating the wet ground with a hoof in displeasure.

"Just go, Yinping!" Guan Ping grabbed her arm and forced her up onto Red Hare, she may be strong, but stronger than Guan Ping… no. He slapped Red Hare's backside and forced him into a startled sprint in attempts to get her away from here without resistance. "Run Red Hare… run far." His vision slowly darkened around the corners, closing inwards.

Yinping clenched at Red Hare's mane just to hold on while looking over her shoulder and watching her brother disappear into the distance, before suddenly his figure collapsed and she risked falling to reach down and secure the reins that had fallen from reach. At first she thought she may not be able to reach at all, but a sudden jolt put it just within her reach and she managed to stop Red Hare and forced him to turn around.

"Come on Red Hare… we cannot leave him." The sprint back seemed like it took so long, despite only being moments. She dismounted and used her strength to lift Guan Ping, hauling him up onto Red Hare with her. She made sure that he was secure and wouldn't fall before nudging Red Hare's side's and sending the mighty steed into a full gallop, while leaving the battlefield behind and praying that her father and siblings were safe.

* * *

TBC...


	2. Chapter 2

Title: Run Red Hare  
Category: Games » Dynasty Warriors  
Author: Ziggurat Rolsovitch  
Language: English  
Rating: T

Disclaimer: I own a copy of the game, but not the copyright.  
A/N: Alright, so here is my next chapter. I only intend for this to be a short story so... And also a special thanks to all my reviewers and your lovely reviews. This chapter would not be possible without you.

**Narwhale**: If you think you can do better than by all means I sincerely welcome you to write your own story with these two characters. The fandom could use as many fics about these two as we can get.  
**Fier66**: Yes, I know exactly what you mean. Guan Ping has been very underrated. I personally liked his halberd in six. I agree about them seeming to be the closest of the siblings. I loved how she brought the problem of needing sturdier chopsticks (due to her super strength) to him when it could have been brought up to her father or other siblings. It being him specifically shows they have a stronger bond than the others. And also how he was worried about her 'coming into that age' and having boys harassing her.  
**Seseorang**: Is is a needle in a haystack. Hence me writing my own. I plan on doing another fanfic and will have it up soon about the Guans. But I don't want to reveal too much about the plot. Their story is also definitely my favorite in all of DW. I had a lot of fun on their campaign.

* * *

It was nightfall and raining when Yinping had taken shelter within a small cave, it didn't reach too far and there was just enough space to fit Red Hare herself and her brother securely where she waited until morning for the rain to let up and the sun to rise. Luckily, she had come across a supply cart and gathered what few supplies she could from it. Being a draft horse Red Hare could still easily carry these things along. As for Guan Ping; he'd yet to awaken and the longer it took the more worried she became. She gently laid a delicate hand over his forehead and felt the high fever that had taken hold of him.

At her touch he shifted slightly and made a sound. "Unh… Xingcai…"

She abruptly brought her hand away from him and inched back just a little. She had known that Xingcai was the girl that Guan Ping had harbored intimate feelings for, but sadly it just wasn't destined and she had been engaged to marry Liu Shan. It must have been heartbreaking for him. Though, she wondered just what kind of a dream he was having right now… his voice sounded more troubled than anything else.

Since he seemed so out of it she moved back beside him and grasped the arrow, she'd been too afraid to remove it until now, but it was about time to do so. She snapped the arrow and turned him onto his side, pulling it out slowly through the back, before very gently lying him back down again and setting about removing his armor to see the rest of his injuries and bind the wound. Briefly she glanced at the arrow and noticed the sharp barbed corners and felt a twinge in her heart at the pain it must have caused him.

She grazed her fingers over the hole in his armor while setting it aside, before starting on the rest and finally reaching his under robes. She greatly hesitated in this part as she wondered if it was really fine or not if she did so without his consent, but decided that this was a serious situation that couldn't wait for that and so she moved it aside, but kept everything below the waste covered still as she didn't remove it all the way.

His skin was discolored with bruising, but at least their trip through the rain had washed him of most of the blood and dirt. She sighed softly and stood, emptying the bucket with the supplies she had gathered in it safely next to him, before bandaging his wounds up, the arrow wound didn't seem as bad as she expected, it clearly hadn't hit anything major, but the leg wound did worry her, because she could see through to the bone. She picked up the bucket and headed out.

"Red Hare, please watch over Ping, I need to get and go some water. I will bring you back some too. I promise. And an apple if I can find one!"

Red Hare was a smart horse of course and at the sound of the word apple he nickered and tossed his head back. She smiled gently and quickly set off along the pathway, it seemed a lot of deer went through this area and if she followed it she was sure to find water nearby.

Sometime into her disappearance Guan Ping had awoken with a start and that sudden movement of sitting up all too quickly brought a stinging ache to his wounds. Without the numbing cold he could feel the agony all too well, but for now he was much more concerned with where he was, more so where Yinping was at. She had been with him right? She was alright? He glanced over at the large beast beside him and slowly raised his gaze.

"Red Hare?" He attempted to get up; he would have to find her. What if… what if something bad had happened? What if he had failed and she'd been… no! He refused to think like that. He'd take Red Hare and get her out of whatever trouble she might be in-

"Ping!" A scolding voice came from a familiar form and he let his head fall back while a breath escaped him that he hadn't known he had been holding. "Do not get up you will make it worse."

"Yinping… do not do that again… without telling me first." Since it was calm, peaceful in safe he yielded to the pain and dropped back down to lay still; just a little while… he would just rest for a little while. Then they would find the rest of their family.

"You were worried about me?" Her voiced sounded all too cheerful as she approached and kneeled beside him. His eyes slowly shifted over to her and he too in her still wet clothes with a frown, if his weren't wet as well and filled with blood he'd have offered them up to keep her warm. Wait… he looked down at himself, he didn't even have that, he was only partly dressed.

"Mmm." He only made a sound, not really going to acknowledge that he was, but it wasn't as if she didn't already know that he was indeed worried about her. "We need to regroup with the remainders of our forces. We cannot just sit here."

"Don't be silly. First you have to be taken care of." Ah, really he didn't know how she could sound so high-spirited in times like these, but then again that was her charm. "Ah! I almost forgot." She reached into the bucket and offered Red Hare up an apple and without hesitance it was gone in practically a single bite from the massive beast. "I got really lucky and found some lunch."

"We need to-"

"You really should drink some water since you lost a lot of blood. Father always says to drink a lot if you bleed a lot." She stated and he only glanced down. That was right… their father… just what had become of them?

"Yinping…" He began and that smile she was trying so hard to keep up faltered for just a moment at the tone that he held. "We need to be prepared for the worst."

"What are you saying?" She quickly turned her back to him to start cutting an apple for distraction and he understood exactly what she was doing. She didn't want to think that way; didn't want to even consider the possibilities. "We will find father and our brothers..."

"Yingping…"

"And then we'll go back to fighting and get back the castle and win it for our uncle and bring peace back to the land…"

"Yinging…"

"And… we will not ever… become separated again…" at the last sentence her voice finally broken and he forced himself back up and slid, as quickly as his injuries would allow, closer to her. Except he didn't even try to give an answer to her last resort hope as he slid his arms around her from behind in a comforting hug. What could he possibly tell her? He did not want to get his hopes up in case worst came to worst, but at the same time he did not want to be thinking horrible thoughts of death either.

She dropped the blade and half cut apple in exchange for turning around and grabbing onto him in a desperate hug that showed just how really scared she was. A faint exhale left him as the strength of her hug crushed the breath out of him.

"It will be alright…" Despite saying it, his voice sounded more hollow than comforting. Even so she hardly seemed to take notice and instead preferred to stay right where she was burrowed into him with an unbreakable grip. "We still have each other…"

* * *

Thunder rumbled loudly and lightning streaked across the darkening sky. It appeared that they would not be leaving this place just yet. Red Hare may indefinitely be the most spectacular steed to ever live, but carrying both of them and their supplies would be difficult even for him in this weather. So they stayed, another night could be afforded he supposed, but really Guan Ping wanted nothing more than to get back and find the fate of their family out.

For better or for worse.

He turned over, making an uncomfortable sound and a short silence ensued before he groaned again and turned once more. It was impossible to sleep with all the thoughts running through his head and this constant throbbing pain that just wouldn't stop. Another sound and he turned over into Yinping, she hadn't been sleeping, but she didn't seem to content with him rolling that close to her.

In all honesty she really had no clue just what it was he was doing, but once he got close he moved even closer and breathed deeply while resting against her and she put up with it for a moment until it grew uncomfortable having him that close for numerous reasons and shoved him away, but he continued his agitated fidgeting; shifting numerous times and rolling over until he ended up turning right back against her in the same position as he had been previously.

"Stop…" She requested in frustration, before sitting up to look at him. In the pitch black it was impossible to see him, only briefly did she seem him in a sudden flash of lighting did she comprehend his awkward position and understood that he was in severe pain which she, as she greatly regretted, could do nothing to alleviate.

"The cold-… nothing." With a heavy breath he turned over again so that his back was to her and he did his best to hold still through the pain that wouldn't go away no matter how he decided to stay. Yinping guessed what he was trying to say. The cold was making his pain much less tolerable and it was warmer next to her. So she shifted her makeshift bedding and blankets closer to him and rested against his back, despite it being uncomfortable for various reasons.

His breathing had yet to settle and she worried a little bit if he was going to be alright or not, she rested her head alongside his back and felt as her hand brushed his side near the bandages and found them to be sticky and wet; his blood must have soaked through them. Despite it making her fear grow inside she didn't say a word in case it may agitate him, because she didn't know if he could tell he'd bleed through or not and telling him if he didn't already know wouldn't help anything in anycase.

"You don't… need to get close to me…" He began quietly and she set a hand against his back and shifted slightly to try and see him during the occasional lightning flashes.

He didn't bother to turn around and just remained as he had been, because even if he tried, he wouldn't be able to see her, not through the side of his face which had been beat so severely that his eye was still swollen shut and also because even if it wasn't his eye in such bad shape the rest of his body was too broken to even try and move any further.

"Ping… do you remember when we were kids? And I was always scared of storms, so you would stay in the room and watch over me, rubbing my head until I fell asleep." She reached up and lightly stroked his hair back continually just as he had done when she was scared or sick when they were younger. He had always taken care of them when their father was busy.

"Hm… you were such a fussy baby, did you know? You cried so much; sometimes I was at my wits end, trying to figure out how to make you stop." A faint smile crossed his lips, before his breath hitched at a particularly sharp pain. "Yinping… please… please… I need you… to knock me out… just for a while…"

Yinping froze at hearing his words, it could also cause damage, but the way he was pleading broke her heart and she decided to acknowledge his request and brought her fingers up to press hard against the nerve, waiting for it to cut off the blood flow long enough, but not too long so as not to cause permanent damage, until she felt his tensed body suddenly relax and she knew that he was unconscious. She held a hand beneath his nose and then set it on his chest, just to make sure he was still breathing and sighed in relief once she was sure he was fine. It was a hard choice, but she had to make that choice to temporarily relieve his pain and let him get the rest he so badly needed to heal.

* * *

A quiet nicker awoke Yinping from her sleep and she glanced up, taking in the early morning light from the just rising sun and the dripping rain water that slowly dripped onto a leaf right outside, where a low pale fog drifted over the ground. Her eyes took in Red Hare, who had made the sound as he finished the last of the apples. The devil had waited until they fell asleep, knowing he wasn't supposed to eat them unless given them. What a smart horse.

"At least I know where to get more…" She stated quietly, before becoming conscious of the odd situation she found herself in. Sometime during the night she had turned over and Ping had ended up curled up behind her like the previous night, only he had a strong grip around her and was clinging to her for the strong fear of losing her like he had lost everyone else. A sound escaped him and his grip tightened even further, making it hard to breathe. He sounded distressed; it seemed it was a nightmare afflicting him. "Ping… wake up…"

Before she could try and wake him again with a more firm tone he jumped, trying to get up quickly but failing and grabbing his side once more and holding the place with a grimace. After a few deep breaths his good eye focused on her and he relaxed. "Yinping… you are alright…"

"Ah I'm fine, but you need to let me change your bandages…" Yinping urged, changing the subject and reached over to get the supplies. He let out a breath and sat up, removing the top of his uniform to help, and almost started to unravel bandages before he notice all the fresh blood and frowned. He wasn't afraid of dying, but… dying before he made sure Yinping arrived somewhere safe and sound… that scared him. Instead Yinping without saying a word removed them for him carefully. "I think that your training has really paid off, you've gotten so much stronger."

"If I was stronger… this would not have happened." He replied, watching her carefully pull of the stuck bandages and clean off the dried blood before she checked the wound and then started to re-bandage it for him.

"Father would not want you to talk like that." She glanced down, his leg wound needed to be taken care of as well. It was too late for stitches, so it would have to just be kept closed up with bandages until it healed. "I think that you will have a lot of scars to show off to father and let him know how brave you were when fighting."

"Let's find them." He said suddenly and she looked at him in surprise that his attitude had suddenly changed like that.

"Yes. Let's."

* * *

That next morning she woke, prepared to head out with Ping right away and find their family. Quickly getting up she prepared Red Hare and then turned towards Ping except she realized that he hadn't even stirred after falling asleep.

"Ping…?" She reached over and set a hand against his still bruised face and felt that he was cold and her heart sunk suddenly. She grasped the edges of his uniform and shook him. "Wake up… wake up… come on… wake up! please..."

With bated breath she watched his chest in silence and waited for the faint rise and fall that indicated he was breathing. It didn't seem to come and the short time she waited, seemed to drone on like hours before she grasped him once more he suddenly startled awake and inhaled sharply, sitting up abruptly with a wince. Her body still rushed with adrenalin from fear and shook faintly.

"What? What's what? What happened?" His hand shot to his aching side to hold it as his eyes scanned the area for threats. Finding none he brought his eyes back to her and they slowly lowered to her shaking hands, which she immediately, -upon noticing his scrutiny- clenched them in her skirt. Oh. He had scared her. He understood, yet he said nothing, he didn't want to embarrass her. "Are we ready to leave?"

For a moment Yinping didn't trust her voice not to give away her fear with an involuntary quiver and so she took a moment before nodding. "Y-yes." It was her fear, her voice indeed cracked and he brought his eyes back to her before moving closer and pulling her into his arms. He turned his nose into her hair and pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

"Just hold onto me. I'll hold onto you." He told her, before standing and pulling her up with him. "I won't die and leave you alone. That's a promise. Come on, Yinping… we're going to go home now. Okay?"

She knew that he was trying to be strong for her, but she knew how tired he was. She was the one that needed to be strong for him. She turned her face against his chest, discreetly drying the tears before pulling back and starting to gather the supplies. He did his best to help, despite not being well and soon they have gathered everything up and mounted Red Hare; the deft draft horse easily able to carry them and the supplies along with him as they started back towards what they could guess was home, judging by where the sun rose and fell.

The mountains seemed endless and the rocks that passed by and under Red Hare's hooves provided them with a constant clipping cadence. It almost lulled Guan Ping into sleep, but he fought against it despite the fact that his head felt like it was filled with cotton balls.

"Ping?"

"I'm here." He reassured, he glanced at familiar surroundings. They came slowly to the end of the mountain pass and down the valley there was camp. There was home. But… there was something very wrong. "No… no…" A red flag raised in place of green. "Wu…"

Yinping looked on in shock at what was once the place that their great army had resided was now taken completely over by Wu forces. She felt Ping's body shaking with rage and could tell that he'd love nothing more than to charge down there and cut a bloody swath through the enemy.

"They must have gone somewhere else… we should go around…"

Some small rocks broke off and rolled down the mountain side and he glanced up quickly to notice they were surrounded on both sides.

* * *

TBC...  
PS: Kids do NOT ever try and knock someone out like that. You CAN kill someone doing it. I was a Martial arts teacher for some time and it's a knock out move for self defense yes, but if you don't do it right all sorts of nasty things can happen.


	3. Chapter 3

Title: Run Red Hare  
Category: Games » Dynasty Warriors  
Author: Ziggurat Rolsovitch  
Language: English  
Rating: T

Disclaimer: I own a copy of the game, but not the copyright.  
A/N: Here we are with the next chapter.

**Fier66**: Yes. They were. It is a shame, but at the same time I think that also makes things interesting between them. A little bit of tension is always good between characters.  
**Seseorang**: I certainly won't hold it against you. ;D I'm actually partial to it even if it's a bit unorthodox, but I'm not sure if anything like that will happen here. It depends on if the readers would be interested in seeing it. If they were I'd consider it, but I don't think they'll like it. I want it to be a friendly story for everyone. And oh my... I see. I went back and redid some of the spellings. I really do hate my auto-correct sometimes. It does terrible things to my stories. And also since I've had so many marching drills with my squad lately it's hard to have time to check over my spelling and what auto-correct decided it wanted to change.

* * *

**_They were surrounded on both sides._**

Yinping glanced up towards the mountains on either side of them and wondered what they were going to do. Guan Ping could not fight in this condition and she couldn't take on this many men alone. She was a strong warrior, but she wasn't stupid.

"Yinping… I'll hold them off, you take Red Hare and get as far away from here as you can."

"You can't!" She said suddenly, grabbing onto his sleeve to hold him in place. If he fought as he was he was going to die without a doubt. "You can't treat me like that."

He glanced up and watched the blue flag of Wei rise and cursed under his breath. There was no time to argue, he decided before jerking the reigns harshly and turning Red Hare around, forcing the steed into a dead sprint. The thin rocks shattered from beneath the hard gallop and he heard the sound of other horses making their way quickly down the steep hillsides and giving chase. He risked glancing over his shoulder and clenched his fists on the reigns.

A soldier took the opportunity when Red Hare slowed down around a sharp corner and got alongside them, swinging his spear towards Red Hare, but Ping managed to lean forward sharply and grab the spear and use his strength to hold it there, only inches from Red Hare's throat. With his grip on the reigns lost Yinping reacted fast enough to reach around him and catch them from falling out of reach.

The spearman was struggling to get his weapon back for another swing and Ping felt his sore and tired muscles crying out in protest against use again so soon. _Father… please lend me your strength…_ he pleaded in his mind. Gritting his teeth he let out a fearsome shout and used every ounce of strength within him to tug the spear away from the soldier and the man slipped from his saddle, body impacting hard with the sharp rocks below at high speeds, which killed him instantly.

"Ping!" She warned as another horseman almost caught him off guard on the opposite side, thanks to her warning he was able to bring up the captured spear and block it. She wanted to help, but she couldn't risk letting go of the reigns. More than anything though, she was terrified of what would become of him from having to fight so hard when he was far from healed.

"Come on Red Hare…!" He kicked his sides a bit harder and Red Hare got the point and sped up. Right know their lives depended on Red Hare's speed. "Come on… come on… run… run… I know you can do it!"

He brought up the blunt end of the spear when the soldier went to attack and jabbed him hard in to gut and sent him over the other side of his horse. That was two down, but he had no doubt they'd sent more than two pursers after them.

"Yinping, trade me." He grabbed the reigns with one hand and with the other handed her the spear, he needed to focus on navigating them through the woods once they broke through the tree line. Every time they had to turn a sharp corner Red Hare slowed down enough for a few soldiers to catch up and Yinping, was glad that he handed the spear to her, since at this point she was stronger than him. "Once we break free of this canyon we'll be free of them. No more slowdowns."

She brought up the blunt end of the spear, bashing a soldier in the head so hard it spun his helmet all the way around and a branch suddenly caught him as they reached the tree line finally. An archer on horseback drew his bow and fired on them. The arrow struck the tree, narrowly avoiding them and Ping pressed his lips together in a thin line. That wasn't good.

The archer drew again and he was more afraid of Yinping being hit. Damnit he should have had her ride in the front.

Thinking fast Yinping brought up the spear and waited until the archer was in line and threw it, despite not being good with a weapon on horseback, she was lucky enough to hit the archer, but just as she hit him, his fingers lost their grasp on the bow and the arrow fired, awkwardly wavering through the air.

Red Hare let out a loud shriek suddenly and before she knew it they were in the air for a few seconds before hitting the ground. The green grassy ground seemed like it shouldn't have hurt so bad, but at least they weren't in the canyon. If they had gone down in the rocky canyon they would be dead. She had landed on her leg and she could tell that it was sprained, because it was agonizingly painful to try and move at all.

Red Hare was snorting and whining, attempting to get back up, but the arrow that struck his hind leg prevented such movement and finally Red Hare realized it was a fruitless battle and dropped his head down, body heaving with every panicked breath.

She glanced over at Ping and winced when she saw all the blood, the fall and combat had reopened his wounds. He wasn't going to be able to fight. She glanced over towards the bow on the ground and quickly inched towards it, but before she could even pick it up a foot stepped down on her hand and she looked up to see a Wei soldier. The soldier raised his spear, but there was a flash and she realized that Ping had tackled the soldier.

Yinping picked up the bow and searched for an arrow, hoping that the archer had dropped one somewhere along the line, but unfortunately she found none. She looked up and noticed Ping had finished strangling a soldier and picked up a rock, raising it above the man's head, ready to smash it down. But he hesitated, -panting heavily from the exertion of the fight- staring into the man's unconscious face.

"Ping… don't… it's not right. I know you know that." She said quietly, folding her hands over his.

"He wasn't about to show you the same mercy." He spoke through a swollen mouth full of blood, which made his words slur and sound uneven.

"I know… but still…" She led his hands away from hovering above the man's face, where he soon gave in and dropped it into the grass. The sound of several horses approaching signaled the end for them, there was no more running or fighting. There were too many and they didn't have weapons. Sure, it was possible for one to pick up the spear and give the other time to escape, but Ping couldn't escape in his condition and she wouldn't leave him. Instead of that she decided to take his attention off the enemy soldiers. "Let me see." His right eye was filled with blood in the bottom corner; he must have gone down head first earlier.

"You're the one that's hurt." He turned his head aside and spat the blood, which would well up again in several moments.

"Not as bad as you are."

"It's nothing." He reached over and picked up the spear, ready to fight them off, still hell bent on letting her escape, but Yinping suddenly wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him to her. "Let go. Let go…"

"No. We'll go together." She said quietly and he understood what she meant, but it was so hard to accept it. Their camp was gone, Shu was gone and more than that their family was gone and there was no more fight left in him. He raised his eyes towards the large amount of horsemen getting closer, though they were cautious due to the amount of men they'd lost to the two of them.

"I can still fight…" He whispered, fingers grasping onto the spear so tightly that his knuckles turned white. But she held onto him tighter, knowing that he couldn't fight anymore.

"Ping… I love you." Yinping said her final farewell to him and his breathing hitched. Was this really the end for them? He finally let the grip on the spear go and hugged her to him.

"I love you too, Yinping." The only thing he felt now was guilt that he hadn't been able to save her. His eyes glared, still holding the fire of a deadly warrior in them, even if his body would no longer go on fighting like his spirit did.

One of the men started forward and then cried out before there was a dull thud. Ping quickly looked up before grabbing her and turning her to her back was to the nearest tree. Arrows were raining down on the Wei forces and they were scrambling. If any arrows got close they'd strike him. He'd prefer that though, at least he could do something to protect her.

"Guan Ping… I'm sorry we were late." A familiar voice called out to them and both looked over to see a familiar hooded man.

"Master Xu Shu!" Both said, overjoyed and happy to see their worst fears had not come true. The kingdom of Shu was still there and there was still hope to hold onto. Several others quickly came to their aid as well.

"Don't worry; we'll get you two to the base safe and sound." Xu Shu assured them.

"Guan Ping, Guan Yinping." Zhang Bao said while approaching, he looked happy. "I don't believe it… you're both alive and well!"

"Zhang Bao… have you seen our father and brothers?" Yinping asked and Zhang Bao stopped and froze, as if in fear.

"You don't know…?" Zhang Bao glanced down and his shoulders lowered. "I'm sorry… but… Master Guan Yu… didn't survive the battle. He was captured and beheaded."

And that was the moment that Yinping finally fell apart began to cry, but Guan Ping said nothing and lowered his head, over taken with guilt. And neither of them was aware of much of anything else after some time, continuing on with the long journey and traveling to the base… in such a time of grief… all of it was just a blur.

Upon arriving, they were greeted by several weary gate guards. The moment the gates opened a messenger ran through to report their survival. This base was hidden well, on the high ground as well, do it would at least be safe.

"Ping! Yinping!" and before he even had the chance to look up something slammed into him, almost knocking him over when he realized it was their brothers dragging them both into a group hug. One that was a bit too tight on his injuries, but he tried to grin and bear it. Yinping seemed oddly silent and reflective however, not saying a word. The brothers shared a worried glance.

"We thought you were dead. It's good to see you're alright. Although you look like you've been through hell and back." Xing said. "Can you even see out of that eye at all?"

"It's fine…" Ping insisted.

"Where have you been? What have you been doing all this time?" Suo asked, ever curious.

"They can answer after they've seen a doctor." Xing told Suo, knocking his head lightly. "Come on… let's get you two over there… once you're patched up we'll talk some more."

* * *

A week later…

Today was a meeting of epic proportion. Everyone knew about it and all the top generals and nobles were in attendance. The war situation had grown worse and worse by the day, even if they were holding out rather well so far… this couldn't continue on forever. They all knew it and that was why the advisers were scrambling around like chickens with their heads cut off.

"What shall we do Lord Liu Shan?" A general questioned.

"Yes, something must be done Lord Liu Shan." An adviser added.

"What shall we do?"

"Please milord!"

Guan Ping felt sorry for Liu Shan, the poor young boy looked utterly speechless and dumbfounded by the sudden power and responsibility that had been thrust upon him. Liu Bei had long since fallen ill and passed on with the news of the death of Guan Yu and Zhang Fei having been too much for him to handle pushed him over the final edge. That boy, despite the times of war hadn't seen a single hard time in his life before now. Liu Bei had pampered him.

"We should make peace with Wu." Zhuge Liang stated seriously in the main hall of the palace and Guan Ping suddenly stood from his chair and slammed a fist on the table.

"We could never make peace with Wu after what they did to my father!" He snapped. No… he just couldn't believe what he was hearing. He had to have heard it wrong. They wouldn't dare to such a thing as to take sides with those kinds of people. "They're traitors!"

"I understand how you feel." Zhuge Liang replied, still keeping a stoic face, but even so Zhuge Liang couldn't hide his illness. "But we must see peace with Wu if we are to defeat Wei."

"I won't agree to it! Aside from that there's no way that those people would make peace with us! Not after everything…"

"Guan Ping… stop it." Xingcai scolded him in a harsh, hushed whisper. "Be more respectful in front of Lord Liu Shan."

At Xingcai's harsh words he felt his heart clench painfully, but he just couldn't back down. He had thought that she of all people would understand, as she also lost her father in that terrible time. Guan Ping blamed Wu for all of it.

"The advisors once once proposed a marriage between Sun Quan's son Sun Deng and Guan Yu's daughter, Guan Yinping, but Guan rejected the proposal. If we rectify that now, there is a chance to make partial amends and have pull within Wu." Zhuge Liang said.

"What the hell… kind of thing… are you even thinking?" Guan Ping asked through clenched teeth, while every muscle in his body shook with rage. In all his life he had never been so angry. "As the eldest of the Guan family I refuse that proposal in respect for my father!"

"You display the same arrogance which led your father to his downfall." Zhuge Liang glanced around the room to notice no one but Guan Ping disagreed.

"My father was a great man!" Guan Ping shouted.

"Your father was arrogant and lost his life due to it." Zhuge Liang spoke quickly to cut Guan Ping off from saying anything more. "And on the contrary, Guan Ping… you have no say in regards to the Guan family. You are only here because you are a general. Let nobody here forget that Guan Ping is the son of a farmer. Not of Guan Yu himself. The responsibility for the decision on the marriage lies with Guan Xing."

"Zhuge Liang… please… that's quite enough." Liu Shan finally spoke up, seeing Guan Ping's distress and Xingcai's as well. "Let us postpone this meeting for now and come back to it once our hearts and minds are clearer."

Guan Ping slowly stood up, his face a mixture of resentment, anguish and distress. In all honesty the feelings kept switching back between rage and hurt and worry. He didn't know which one to feel, but mainly it was anger which pushed him forward down the long hallways of the palace.

"Guan Ping!" Xingcai called to him and he paused mid-step as she approached. Her footsteps were practiced and calm, while he had more or less stormed out of the council room. "I know how you feel… but you have to understand Master Zhuge Liang is trying his best."

"I will not let Wu put their filthy hands on Yinping! I'll fight them all on my own if I have to."

"Do you plan on wielding your weapon with one hand?" Xingcai questioned, indicating his arm, which was still in a sling to keep him from opening up his shoulder wound again.

"I don't have to use my greatsword. If I have to… I'll fight them with my bare hands." He replied. "I think if I present it that way to Lord Liu Shan I'll sound-"

"You sound suicidal." She told him and crossed her arms. "What would your father want?"

"I… I don't know what he would want…" He answered honestly, lowering his eyes towards the ground in shame. "I've been trying so hard… to fill his shoes for Xing and Suo and Yinping… but I… won't ever be able to get close to being able to be someone they can rely on… if I can't even help when they need me the most."

"Guan Ping… they do rely on you and they look up to you. I've seen it, but you have to think of what's best for Shu… maybe this would even be good for her… she could be safer with them, like Lady Wu is safe here with us." His lips parted as if he were about to say something, but then he made a face and decided against it. "I know that you'll make the right choice."

"I just don't know anymore… and as Zhuge Liang puts it… it isn't even up to me." He sighed deeply. "I know… that she's been having such a hard time after father died… I should talk to her."

"Go then and talk to her. Perhaps she'll understand how important it is and make the decision on her own to do what's best for Shu."

"Yeah… I guess…" There was a short pause and then he spoke, voice lowering considerably. "Xingcai… isn't it hard to always put duty first?"

Xingcai was clearly shocked by his words and her eyes widened before she managed to get her emotions under control at that sudden question. "I need to attend to Lord Liu Shan. Excuse me."

He sighed yet again and rubbed the back of his head while he watched Xingcai walk away in a hurry. It seemed to him from her reaction that it was difficult, so how could he ask Yinping to do that sort of a thing? He couldn't… right? But what if it was better for her and safer too? He listened to his own footsteps as the only distraction from his thoughts as he continued down the many halls it took to get to her room.

He raised a hand about to knock before he heard giggling and then laughter and he instead opened the door and just walked in, seeing Xing and Suo in the midst of doing their best to cheer her up. She really hadn't taken the death of their father all too well. It was one of the things she had been holding onto with such hope in their previous journey together.

"What are you two doing?" Ping asked, curious at the spectacle they appeared to be putting on.

"Well… you see we found these little puppets." Suo began, holding one of the disfigured, creepy little dolls up. "And decided to do a show. Look, this one is you." Suo then held up a puppet with its arm in a sling and Ping pressed his lips together in a thin line, exasperated with this display.

Xing snorted faintly, trying to hold in his laughter at the irritated look on their brother's face at the mere mention of his temporary disability. "Don't worry Ping, we don't think any less of you."

"When you say it like that you make it sound like I'm not able to perfor-never mind." Ping rubbed at his brow. "I need to talk with Yinping… would you mind stepping out for just a moment?"

Xing and Suo glanced at one another before setting the puppets aside and heading out, not bothering to question anything, because by that look on his face, they knew it was nothing good. Once he heard the door click closed he sat down on the bed beside her.

"It's something bad isn't it?" Yinping asked, able to judge by the look on his face.

"It depends on how you take it." He closed his fist over his knee and took a deep breath. "The chancellor… wants you… to marry into Wu… to bring about peace between the kingdoms…" As he finished speaking he gritted his teeth in frustration.

There was an absolute silence. The air had suddenly become so tense it seemed as though it was growing more and more difficult to breathe the longer the silence went on.

"Did you already agree to it…?"

"I just want what's best for you…" He began, but before he could even finish she shoved hard against his chest and pushed him back away.

"Get out… just get out."

His chest heaved with a sorrow filled sigh as he slowly stood up. It wasn't hard to tell that she was trying to hold back the tears that were brimming in her eyes. He knew that she felt as though he had betrayed her and he couldn't blame her. No. He understood completely and so that was the reason he walked away without an argument. The second he opened the door he heard her subcome to tears and it tore his heart out. Xing and Suo were outside the room looking on in shock.

"Ping what happened? Everything was fine a minute ago…" Suo stated and he walked past both of them hurriedly down the hall and both Xing and Suo quickly split up to try and resolve the situation.

Xing entered the room with their sister and Suo ran off after their brother quickly. It was a bit hard for Suo to catch up with him, but eventually he did though he still kept his distance at least to some degree lest he get involved in the destruction his brother was likely to cause in a fit of rage… and… he was right…

Guan Ping let out a shout when he put his fist through the wall.

"Be careful Ping… you've only got one hand, if you break it you're going to have a really hard time." Suo warned, trying to keep a cheerful tone in his voice to coax him into calming down. "I guess the other one has a head start on healing at least, right?"

"I'm not in the mood."

"What's happened? You don't usually act this way."

"The chancellor…" Ping gritted his teeth and raised his fist to hit the next nearest thing and Suo quickly grabbed his arm and patted his clenched fist.

"Now, now. Let's calm down and talk about it."

"He wants Yinping to marry into Wu. All she is, is a sacrifice to him!" Faced with no other choice Ping lowered his hand and Suo released his arm cautiously. "I know… I understand… that we probably… can't defeat them both; I understand… maybe it's best for her… because she would be safe, but… those people killed our father. How can I ask her to do this?"

"Ping…" Suo sighed. "I understand your position in the family must be hard."

"Suo… I don't have a position in the family anymore… the chancellor said… that because I'm not a true Guan the reasonability falls on Xing."

"The chancellor may be in charge of a lot of things, but there's no way he's in charge of our family in that way. Don't worry Ping. You'll always remain the head of family to us."

"I'm not concerned with that… but… I'm more concerned with Yinping… what's best for her? Is she safer if I…" He sighed deeply and rubbed a hand along his face in frustration.

"Best for her? You certainly are worried about her… be careful talking like that, people might get the wrong idea; unless… do you plan to marry us off to Wu women as well?" Suo mused in a joking tone and Ping shook his head. "There are some fine women in Wu I suppose…"

"You should be careful talking like that. What if Bao Sanniang hears you saying things like that?"

"Like Sun Shangxiang's armed maiden Lianshi…"

Guan Ping paused and stared silently at the wall, lips twitching into a faint smile, which added a more humorous look to his face than he probably, would have wished for. "Lady Lianshi is fine looking-I mean! Never mind that… we're talking about Yinping right now."

"Actually I was trying to distract you. Thinking about one thing too hard will end up giving you a headache. Stop thinking about it for a while, at least until she's calmed down. If you try talking to her now she could easily beat you up."

"Yeah… that's true…"

"Come on, Ping… let's go for a drink together and talk about it more there, then try to come to a decision."

"Alright." He agreed.

* * *

Xing winced and watched as Yinping threw a vase across the room and it shattered against the wall on the opposite side of the room. At first she had been crying, but then she had gotten angry and seemed to not be sure which she preferred as she switched between the two. It was more than obvious she was angry right now though and he knew that he was going to have to be careful.

"Uhm… Yinping… what exactly happened." Xing asked and watched while she sat there on the bed, arms wrapped around herself while she stared at the broken vase.

"I can't believe that he would make a deal like this… especially with Wu. He wants me to marry Sun Quan's son." She informed and Xing's jaw dropped.

"What?"

"I know… I didn't think that I had heard him right at first, but I know from the look on his face what he was thinking. Ugh! I can't believe that Ping actually thought that that would be best for me."

"Yinping… you have to understand that we all want to protect you… albeit… in different ways. If you were in his place what would you do?"

"I wouldn't make him marry some Wu princess, the same people that killed our father." Yinping replied unhappily.

"What if you were?" Xing asked and she gave her brother a confused look.

"I wouldn't."

"Isn't there any sort of way you can put yourself in his place thought?" Xing asked and Yinping pouted at him and he held his hands up. "Okay, okay. Why don't we get you out of this room so you can at least get some fresh air. You've mourned over father in here for long enough. He wouldn't want us wasting our lives away in sadness in our rooms."

"I guess you're right."

Suddenly a knock at the door interrupted the conversation and Xing got up to answer it, finding a guard there.

"Lord Liu Shan has requested both of you to present yourselves in his throne room." The guard said and bowed.

"Ah… very well. Lead the way." Xing said and Yinping got up slowly, following along with her brother as the guard led them down the halls. Xingcai and Zhang Bao were both there, as well as Ping and Suo, apparently awaiting them as the last ones to get there. The guard bowed to Liu Shan and left, to close the doors and guard them.

"I am happy that you came." Liu Shan stated. "I wanted to formally apologize about the disturbance that the chancellor's suggestion caused and the way that he mocked you Guan Ping. I want you to know that I have no intention of having you removed from your position as head of the Guan household."

Yinping glanced at her brother in surprise. The chancellor wanted to remove him from his position as head of the household? Was it because he had failed to get her to agree to marry into Wu? She scrunched her nose up then and decided that no, he would never agree to making her marry just to keep his position. It had to have been something else.

"Lord Liu Shan…" Ping began while his eyes were on the ground, before he regained his confidence and lifted his head to look up at him. "I do not want any of my family to marry into Wu after they killed my father. I want to fight them until the end."

Xingcai gave him an exasperated look upon his answer, it was clear she wasn't happy with what he had just said.

"I see… regardless… I still need to ask you to reconsider. I will give you some time to think before you come to your final answer." Liu Shan said. "Excuse me… it is late and I must retire to my room now. Please have your decision for me soon."

With that Liu Shan stood and his guards trailed after him as he left the throne room and the rest of the group standing there in awkward silence.

"Well… that was an interesting meeting." Zhang Bao said, running a hand through his hair as he laughed nervously. "I think he probably had something to say to you Yinping."

"Something to say?" She asked in confusion.

"Yea, he was probably going to ask you personally to make a choice. He might still if Guan Ping refuses the deal again like he did earlier at the council meeting." Bao replied. "Yinping, if you really don't want to marry that guy, why don't you marry me instead? Then there would be nothing they could do."

Both Xing and Suo glanced at one another in surprise, and then they began sizing him up carefully. Any guy making a move like that on their sister was definitely going to get a talking to. On the other side of the room Xingcai approached Guan Ping and he sighed quietly.

"Guan Ping… I thought that you understood the desperation in this arrangement." Xingcai stared up into his face. "If you had done that in front of everyone you would have made a fool of Liu Shan."

"That wasn't my intention." He glanced at the others; they were still in their own conversation together, oblivious. "It just… isn't going to work."

"Duty comes first Guan Ping. I put my duty first for Lord Liu Shan."

"Yeah, and now you're going to be stuck in a loveless marriage that you don't even want." He replied and suddenly a loud crack echoed throughout the room and he felt a sharp sting in his face. He reached up and rubbed the reddening hand mark on his face.

That had drawn everyone's attention and they looked on in shock as Xingcai walked away abruptly and shortly after Ping went after her. He had to break into a jog to catch up with her once she had gotten down the hall. He reached out with his only hand and grabbed her arm.

"Xingcai!"

"Let go Guan Ping." She demanded.

"Are you happy? Are you really happy with Lord Liu Shan?! Does he really make you happy?! I need to know!"

"Why does it matter so much to you?!" Xingcai tried to struggle out of his tight grip, but it didn't seem to be happening.

"Because…" He lowered his voice considerably. "I love you… Xingcai…" He leaned down and brought his mouth in contact with hers, tightening his grip on her arm to keep her there. But Xingcai did not, as he expected pull away and beat him into next week… instead she brought her hands to his face and kissed him back, however it was a brief and fleeting moment though and soon she turned her face from his and stepped back and he released his grip on her arm.

"I love him Guan Ping. He makes me happy. Liu Shan is a kind and benevolent leader. Those who call him feeble minded simply don't know him like I do." Xincai kept her gaze trained away from him. "You have a special place in my heart."

"But it's not enough right?" He asked and upon her silence he dropped his head faintly, swallowing with difficulty. Her silence spoke volumes. He dropped a shoulder against the wall and leaned on it. "I didn't think so…"

"I need to go." She told him and stepped away, heading off and leaving him standing there.

Without a doubt his heart was broken, but that he had been able to share just one moment with her was enough to be able to live with the situation even if it hurt knowing they could never be together. Lost in thought he grudgingly made his way to his own room, not bothering with any light he dropped into the window sil and sighed, bringing one leg up to his chest and glancing out into the dark night. His eyes wandered to the stables, where Red Hare was recovering.

All this with everything… Xingcai, Liu Shan… Yinping and this arranged marriage. Oh, God… what was he even going to do? What was he going to decide? What was Yinping going to decide? What was she going to do? He dropped his head back with a thunk on the window and ran a hand through his hair, whining.

"Father what should I do?" He asked quietly into the dark and suddenly the door to his room opened and a streak of light filtered in and he looked up in surprise at who was standing there. "What are you doing here…?"

* * *

TBC...


	4. Chapter 4

Title: Run Red Hare  
Category: Games » Dynasty Warriors  
Author: Ziggurat Rolsovitch  
Language: English  
Rating: T

Disclaimer: I own a copy of the game, but not the copyright.

A/N: Here is the next chapter and based on the response of the last chapter I've decided to take this in a different direction. This chapter gets pretty crazy.

Blinded in a bolthole: Well, you'll see why exactly in a later chapter why Liu Shan doesn't marry a Wu lady. Oh, and that comment made me laugh. Would that count as assassination or...? How does one classify that kind of death? XD  
Fier66: Yeah. Arranged marriages everywhere. Could make one a little... crazy... *precursor-Imeanwhat?*  
Narwhale: Thank you.  
Seseorang: It does! And this one does even more so. Zhuge Liang was harsh, but there wouldn't have been any other way to keep the other generals from siding with Guan Ping if not. And there will be more Xingcai/Ping Yinping/Bao moments later on too. Except Bao has inadvertently caused a certain indecent in this chapter. Who shall the real shipping be?! That is the question.

I love your reviews guys. They make my day and keep me inspired. T^T - (happy tears) Thanks so much for supporting me!

* * *

"What are you doing here?" The question was not at all said in a warm tone, neither was it said in a welcoming one as Guan Ping slowly stood up, his position clearly a defensive one as he did not want at all trust this man.

"General Guan, I am Huang Hao. Eunuch of Lord Liu Shan. Forgive my intrusion, great General, but… I am here on milord's behalf." The man bowed low.

"I know who you are." He replied, yes he knew all too well the rumors that went around about this man before him and he knew that he should be cautious around a trapdoor spider that waited for its prey to fall into a trap of false security and idolization.

"My lord does not know that I am here. I have seen how stressed he has been over the situation with Wu and I wish to request that you make the correct decision and give your sister to Wu."

Ping sighed and set his hands on his hips. "What do you want me to do, huh? Drag her down the aisle kicking and screaming? It isn't going to happen. I'm going to fight Wu until the end for the sake of my father's dreams."

Huang Hao was silent for a long moment, before removing his hands from his sleeves and lifting his bowed head. "Why carry on the ambitions of dead people when it's only going to bring more deaths? When you die, that's it. It's over and done. Everything you've worked on, your dreams and ambitious all die with you."

"Why… you…" He clenched his fists suddenly. "The people that die live on in our hearts! Those that die will never be nothing! We ALL knew what we were getting into when we decided to fight. We're happy die for what we believe in, because a land of freedom and peace and love is worth dying for!"

"How foolish… very well… I will report this to my lord."

"You do that…" Ping replied, scowling faintly and not afraid of whatever that man was going to say about him.

"However… I hope that you realize… that from this point on… you are unable to live on as General Guan Ping. Guan Ping died that day his father did." He watched the snake slowly slither from his room and close the door behind him and once it was closed he walked over to it and pressed on it to be sure it was closed, before making his way to his bed and dropping down onto it.

Yes, it seemed that that was probably true. Likely a punishment thought up by the council to take away all his rights and even his title and to top it all off to take his very own name from him for daring to disagree with them.

He laid there for a few long moments, before squinting his eyes at the dark ceiling. Of all the things bothering him, he also thought; how could he sleep at ease on a bed while his men were out on the ground somewhere on a battlefield? He couldn't. He really missed his father and he wished that there was someone to give him advice and help him right now, because he was really lost and didn't know what he was supposed to do. He brought an arm over his eyes and rested in silence, trying to block out the world and make his head stop thinking for a while. Just for a little while… he wished that he could stop everything, but he couldn't.

Finally he gave in and stood up, going to the closet and gathering up a spear, the same spear that had served them well against Wei forces and the same spear which once belonged to a Wei soldier. He had long lost his weapon back when he'd be so badly injured, struck down by that arrow. That man Lu Meng that had killed his father… he desperately wanted to kill him.

No matter what the costs he was going to have his revenge on him. Shi Ren and Mi Fang had attempted to return to Liu Bei's side. Liu Bei refused to accept their surrender and handed them over to Guan Xing, who executed them shortly after. So at least he could be content that those two had gotten exactly what they deserved for betraying their father and letting Wu in. But Lu Meng… Lu Meng still needed to die; as violently as possible at that.

He opened the door to his room and slowly made his way out, though cautiously as it wouldn't do to get chased back to his quarters by the guards. No doubt that snake Huang Hao would have informed them not to allow him to go out; a punishment for not playing their game.

There was relative silence as he walked down the empty halls, seemingly absent of life at such a late hour. Deserted by guards slacking off and sleeping, showing Liu Shan was not very cognizant of keeping up a secure home, but still… there was no use in worrying over something that he was not going to be able to change and so he left the palace grounds off to find someplace where he could be alone. Really alone. Completely alone. He wanted nobody in be around to interrupt or bother him.

Not too far away he found a peaceful place, a hill with a very old looking apple tree, still ripe with fruit and providing. He leaned the spear against the tree and slowly removed his arm from the sling, trying the cloth around himself temporarily, before he picked up the spear once more and set it in position for a stabbing motion.

Surely by now, he thought, he was healed enough to practice if only a little bit. It was time to recover from this injury; because the sooner he recovered the sooner he could avenge their father. He would drive a blade through Lu Meng's heart. He drove the spear forward and sliced off to one side, a quiet whoosh of air accompanying each movement.

The spear was much more of an elegant weapon that his previous weapon and he could see why Zhao Yun favored it. Regardless he missed his weapon and wished there were a way to retrieve it, but unfortunately there wasn't. It had probably long since sunk beneath the mud and become forever trapped beneath the earth, forgotten.

He made to take a step forward, but a sharp pain shot down his leg and a twinge in his shoulder, making him come to the difficult realization that try as he might he just wasn't well enough yet to handle a weapon or get his revenge.

Maybe another night, just not tonight.

* * *

"Alright, around you go Yinping!" Zhang Bao said as he tied a blindfold over her eyes and spun her in circles around the room, chuckling deviously. "Now catch me if you can!"

Bao Sanniang was sitting at a table playing some type of upbeat tone on the Ruan and completely enchanting Guan Suo with it as it seemed anything outside of the two of them at that table existed while Guan Xing sat at the table across from them, leaning lazily on his chair, waving a foot back and forth slowly in tune with the music.

"This is probably a bad idea to let her run around like that blind folded." Xing stated and Bao held a hand up to ask him to be silent as he moved away from Yinping when she got close. "You're just trying to get an easy kiss."

"Hey! She's not opposed to the game!" Bao defended and then realized he gave his position away and quickly moved out of her reach.

"Whatever you say." Xing took a sip from his wine and stared at the ceiling. "If she gets you you're not getting away either." He added referring to her strength and Bao wiggled his brows showing he had no problem with that. "Our brother will kill you."

Bao merely stuck his tongue out at Xing and Suo laughed from his corner at their bickering over there, amused by it. Not several moments later did the door to the dining hall open and the very brother Xing spoke of walked in, though something looked off about him. Xing smiled at Bao and in return Bao actually winced, well this was not at all a good thing.

Guan Ping stared at them in confusion, and particularly at Bao's look of a frightened deer caught in a hunter's trap. Just as he started towards them just about to ask what happened he stumbled a little bit, scuffing a boot on the floor and wincing, his leg had just about given out on him before he'd managed to right himself and brush himself off, trying to act as if nothing happened. Last night he'd pushed it too far.

Xing suddenly stood and questioned in concern "Are you alright!?"

He would have answered except… "Gottcha, Bao!" he got pulled down into an inescapable grasp and looked extraordinarily confused in response towards Xing as he let out a sound of horror and Ping's eyes widened with shock as he realized exactly what was going on when her nose knocked into his in close proximity as she tilted her head to the side and a muffled 'umf' half escaped him.

"Wait, Yinping that's not-" Xing tried, but too late. "Oh, no…" Xing turned away, burying his face in his hands.

There was a sudden completely silence, a jerk as if a record had been stopped suddenly and Guan Ping was completely unsure if it was just in his head that everything had suddenly gotten silent or if it had really happened, the only thing he knew for sure had really happened and that was the fact that Yinping had so abruptly molded her lips over his in a case of mistaken identity. There was also a loud clang, a thud and a roll, the sound of Suo choking on his wine and dropping his glass.

His heart began to pound so hard he thought that maybe it was just going to break past his rib cage and fall out onto the floor. This was so very wrong and he knew that he should move or do something or push her away and yet he just stood there in complete and utter shock. It was all too much to process for him, the brush of her hands over his cheek as she tangled her fingers in his hair to keep him there and the taste –though unintentional of course!- he could taste the intoxication on her lips, a sweet kind of red wine.

He attempted to bring a hand up, but his body was so tense he couldn't even move. If she wasn't so intoxicated surely she would have noticed something was wrong instead of pressing closer to him which made him all the more tense. He hadn't paid attention before, of course he hadn't, what big brother –adopted yes, but still- in their right mind would, but… until now he hadn't realized she had really grown into the body of a woman… it was too hard not to notice being this close and _for God's sake_ why wasn't anyone over here saving him?!

Finally she pulled away and reached up to pull off the blindfold and he winced as she did so, though it had only been a few moments it had felt much longer than that. An uncomfortable, startled sound left Yinping as she realized that it was not at all the person she had thought it was or intended to kiss and she quickly turned her back on him, unable to face him after such a mistake.

Subconsciously he licked his lips and glanced off to the side. "Not a single word to _anyone_." He warned all of them in the sternest tone he could manage at the moment, albeit being a bit out of breath which didn't help his case. Still… nobody so far had said a single word so that little issue would not be a problem it seemed. "Who's responsible for this?"

"We were just relaxing a bit… since everything has been so stressful…" Bao tried to defend the situation to some degree, while Ping grabbed Yinping by the shoulder and turned her to force her to sit in a chair and there wasn't much struggle as she sat down, arms wrapped around herself uncomfortable as she stared at the floor.

"You gave her alcohol!" He scolded harshly, now that it was settling in what was going on here he was beginning to get a bit angry.

"She's old enough to fight and die for her country she should be old enough to drink whatever she wants." Bao stated.

"You got her drunk on purpose." Ping accused and Bao took offense to that.

"It wasn't like that! I would never take advantage of her when she was drunk. I just wanted a kiss that's all!"

"And you two…" Ping pointed to Xing and Suo who looked a bit guilty. "You two are her older brothers you should have been keeping an eye on her! I can't believe this… I let you out of my sight for a little while and this is what you get into. Don't do it again. Take her to her room and make her rest."

He then started to take a steep when he felt a hand at his sleeve and he glanced down at Yinping with a furrowed brow.

"Are you mad at me?" Her tone sounded pathetic; like a hurt little girl and showing that she had most definitely drank too much.

"I'm…" He glanced straight up at the ceiling and let out a sigh to calm his nerves, before prying her fingers off his sleeve. "I'm not mad at you, but it's late and you need to go to bed."

Sanniang quickly got up from her seat and walked over to Yinping to help her up and take her from the room, leaving yet another awkward silence.

"The same goes for the rest of you. It's late. Go to bed." He gave his final words and headed out of the dining hall. Unbeknownst to them all the door which had been cracked open for an observer slowly closed along with their fate being closed with it.

* * *

A few days later the spreading of rumors of Guan Ping's death had finally begun and Liu Shan insisted it was for Guan Ping's safety, but he knew for a fact that it was a punishment. There was no other explanation for this situation other than a punishment. He had seen that little snake at Liu Shan's side the entire time and really he had a terrible feeling about that man.

But he couldn't think about what he couldn't change. Instead he was spending his time trying to train in the garden, which was empty and not too far of a walk, if anyone came by he'd set the weapon aside and pretend he was just walking around casually. So far nobody had caught him trying to train and build up his strength. He had been holding out for quite some time, until a particularly harsh turn put too much pressure on his leg wound and sent him down on one knee with a loud clank of his teeth grinding together to hold in a cry of sheer agony.

The pain was so utterly terrible he lost his grip and dropped the spear and the wood made an echoing thunk on the ground, bouncing a few times before rolling out of reach into some bushes. Luckily though, because he heard some guards come around the corner and he stayed hidden there where he was as they passed by, not shortly behind Yinping and Sanniang walked along with quiet laughter over girly issues; except they took an extra turn and did spot him.

"Guan Ping what on earth are you doing?" Sanniang asked him, glancing at his pained expression she guessed something he definitely wasn't supposed to be doing. "It looks like you're bleeding again. Stop tearing that shoulder open or it won't heal. Here… I'm going to get bandages. Yinping you better watch and make sure he doesn't try and run away."

Yinping though unfortunately made a face of displeasure, not happy to be left anywhere near him after that incident that night. Yet still Sanniang left them there alone. Though Ping remained silent and didn't look at her either, but his reason was different from hers, he didn't look at her because he knew she was still embarrassed and she didn't look at him for risk of said embarrassment.

The sound of heavy boots started by, but stopped just outside the garden gates. The guard had changed shifts it seemed. It was silent for some time until the two out of sheer boredom struck up a conversation with one another.

"It really came as a surprise that Guan Yu was killed, but hearing Guan Ping killed as well. I heard he was just a guy who liked to accompany his father on his campaigns without actually fighting. So I'm definitely surprise." One guard stated and Ping frowned deeply, a frown which had long since etched itself into his features.

"You know Guan Ping's greatest achievement? Even more pathetic than being Yu's adopted son; pulling a lever to open the flood gates!" The other said and both guards burst into laughter.

"A farmer could have done that!"

"He was a farmer!" Their laughter only increased in volume as it seemed that they found these jokes to be the highlight of their day.

Guan Ping let out a heavy breathe and Yinping glanced at him in shock, she had been told that the soldiers talked bad about him, but she'd never actually heard it for herself. She held out her hand for him, having deemed that both of them had heard enough of that kind of talk and he glanced up with a look of faint surprise. The second he took her hand he found himself effortlessly pulled to his feet, sometimes she looked so delicate that he forgot that she was so strong.

She forced him to sit down forcefully and he winced, unable to fight against that kind of strength especially in his condition.

"You're training to fight that person aren't you?" She asked quietly.

"No. I'm just trying to get back into shape. That's all..." He replied, reaching for the spear in the bushes and giving it a sturdy smack on the stone path to shake it of leaves. He didn't want her to know, because he didn't want her trying to do something dangerous like come with or stop him.

"Sitting like that… you remind me of father…"

"I won't ever be able to surpass him as a warrior. Not since I died."

"I don't understand why Lord Liu Shan insisted that you had to fake your death for your own safety, but at least once Shu wins you'll definitely be able to take your name back." She assured.

"Yes… once we win…" _And… after I have Lu Meng's head_, he added silently.

Sanniang finally returned, but with Suo trailing after her like a love struck puppy, which explained why she took longer than needed to return.

"Here you are, Ping." Sanniang handed him the bandages which he took carefully, though it wasn't unnoticed that his hand was shaking with the effort it took to reach out with that arm, as it led into his injured shoulder.

"Let me help you." Suo said, taking a seat next to him opposite of Yinping and taking the bandages away from him. So, Yinping and Sanniang sat on the bench just across from them while Suo began working on mending up his brother's injury. Again.

"Yinping did you ever deicide if you were going on that date Bao asked you out on?" Sanniang asked and Yinping made a face. She could tell that Ping was frowning over hearing that, there was no doubt his over protective instincts were kicking in.

"Let's not… talk about it here."

"Ow! Suo not so roughly!" He complained suddenly as Suo wasn't exactly doing the most delicate job with patching him up.

"Well maybe if you didn't keep ripping it open…" Suo began slowly and Ping sighed in irritation over the matter. "You've been quite ill-tempered lately. What exactly is on your mind?"

"Nothing…" He just brushed off the subject; because there was no way that he was going to tell any of them his plan.

"Come on, let's talk about it somewhere else then. I want to hear all the details." Sanniang said, grabbing Yinping by the hand and dragging her off out of the gardens and to the walkways instead, though still within viewing distance. "Did you decide?"

"No. I haven't decided yet…"

"So do you like Bao, Yinping?" Sanniang asked and Yinping held her hands together, leaning against a marble pillar in thought.

"I'm not sure… I don't think I've ever liked anyone before. So how do I know what it feels like?" Yinping replied.

"You've never had a crush?" Sanniang seemed to be in shock of this revelation. "How about looking at the boys while they're training?"

"I've only ever trained with my brothers. Father was always worried over me."

"I see. Then I will have to take you out to watch them sometime. Some even train without their shirts on. It's really the best sight." Sanniang said, and then pondered a moment with her hand upon her chin delicately. "Ping isn't bad to look at either. He has a lot of scars though."

Yinping scrunched her nose up faintly at the suggestion. "Suo would get upset if he heard that… and… Ping's scars aren't that bad…"

"What he doesn't know won't hurt him. I still like Suo better even if Ping is cute." Sanniang sighed then and leaned against the pillar opposite of Yinping. "Hm… you know you said it in a funny way… do you by any chance… also like Ping?"

"Sanniang…" Yinping gave an uncomfortable look and dropped her hands to her sides.

"What? He isn't really your brother so it would be alright wouldn't it?"

"It would be so weird…"

"Hmmm… I guess I can understand that. I just thought I would remind you though, that even if it were the case it wouldn't matter." Sanniang added, but since she sensed the discomfort she decided to change the subject all together. "If you decide to go with Bao you have to tell me how it went right away though!"

Yinping was troubled though; it seemed after that incident everyone thought strange things. Didn't they understand it was a mistake? Perhaps she would go with Bao, just to prove everyone was wrong and aside from that she did like Bao. Surely her father would have approved of Zhang Fei's son as well. She let out a sigh. She really missed their father. He would have known what to do in this kind of a situation.

* * *

"No matter how hard I try… my heart just won't let me make myself unlove you." Guan Ping sighed and dropped to sit down on a large rock near the river side. With a groan of frustration he ruffled his hair up with one hand and then dropped it into his lap, heaving yet another sigh while staring at the salmon making their way up stream in the clear water. "ARGH! Why is love so complicated!?" He shouted at the river, as if expecting a salmon to give him the answer to life's mysteries.

No matter how hard he tried he just kept thinking of Xingcai despite the fact that he knew they absolutely couldn't be together. A fish splashed and rippled the water, drops hitting his face which drew him from his distracting thoughts. Except… he caught a reflection in the rippling water behind him and furrowed his brow. Then he caught the flash of blue and the image of a spear being raised and he quickly rolled out of the way just as the soldier stabbed the spear into the place he had previously been.

"Turn back around and run back to where your friends are warrior of Shu!" The soldier commander drawing his spear from the ground and preparing to strike, except before he had time Guan Ping tackled him midsection and took him down into the ground. He had been sizing him up and drew the knife tucked into the Wei soldier's belt and drew it across his throat, spraying blood over Ping's face.

A horse whinnied loudly and he glanced over to catch sight of a second Wei soldier. Two of them in light armor, they were scouts. Ping stumbled and tucked the knife into his belt and picked up the soldier's spear before running to his horse and jumping into the saddle quickly.

He knew that he couldn't let this scout get away. This was a good flanking position and he couldn't let that scout inform his people of it.

Though not as swift as Red Hare his white steed was swift and managed to catch up to the scout. The Wei scout let out a terrified shout and kicked his horse harshly to try and force him to go faster, to no avail.

"I am Guan Ping of Shu, son of the god of war! And I will have Lu Meng's head in vengeance for my father!" Ping shouted in snarl and rose up the spear before he sent it spiraling in a powerful throw that pierced the scout's back. The scout slumped forward before falling sideways off his horse, snapping the spear in half, but caught in the stirrup he dragged for some distance before the horse finally slowed down in a semi panic. Guan Ping rode up aside the dying man and stared down at him. "Do you hear me?! I'm not dead! I'm alive and I'm coming after Lu Meng's head! I will destroy Wu!"

Someone had to know, someone had to know he was alive. Someone had to know. He felt the need to scream it out as loud as he could… and he had, but somehow it didn't feel like it was enough. The Wei scout merely choked on his own blood, terror in his eyes as he heaved his final breath. Guan Ping dismounted and drew the knife, approaching the body of the man.

* * *

"What is the meaning of this?" Liu Shan questioned as Guan Ping entered the throne room covered in blood, earning gasps of shock. Xingcai looked on him in pity which was sharper then a blade. Even his own siblings were in complete shock as they had not expected him to suddenly appear and in this shape.

Yinping attempted to get up, but before she even moved Xing held a hand in front of her to stop her, knowing exactly what she wanted to do, because he also wanted to do the same; run to him and see if he was alright. Suo made a sound of discomfort, holding himself back as well.

He kneeled before the throne.

"Lord Liu Shan… I have brought you the heads of your enemies." Ping tossed a bloody sack onto the floor before the throne. "Wei soldiers have entered your territory."

Huang Hao leaned over the throne and whispered something into Liu Shan's ear and it seemed that he agreed with whatever it was as he nodded. "Great soldier of Shu I appreciate your efforts, but there is no need to worry of Wei's movements anymore. Chancellor Zhuge Liang has revived our alliance with Wu successfully."

Guan Ping slowly lowered his head, though his eyes remained on Liu Shan with a lethal glint as his fists slowly clenched. "You…"

"Lord Liu Shan! You won't allow us vengeance?!" Xing stood up, obviously shocked by the declaration having not been aware of any such thing before this announcement.

"You can't be serious!" Suo shouted.

Huang Hao once more whispered something to him before Liu Shan spoke. "I am afraid that Wei is simply too powerful to fight on our own. This is for the best. You will have to put your differences aside. Brave warrior I thank you for your efforts in stopping these scouts and award you a long rest."

Guan Ping slowly reached down and pulled the dagger from his belt and the room tensed as he stood and slowly approached Liu Shan.

* * *

TBC...

A/N Well that escalated quickly!


	5. Chapter 5

**Title: Run Red Hare**  
**Category: Games » Dynasty Warriors**  
**Author: Ziggurat Rolsovitch**  
**Language: English**  
**Rating: T**

**Disclaimer:** I own a copy of the game, but not the copyright.

**A/N:** Got this done pretty quickly, since I'm still pretty sick and have been stuck in bed for some time. I think this chapter it was very painful. The end will be very painful, but also very liberating. I think there is no better ending then the one I see clearly for the end of this story.

**Blinded in a bolthole:** Not saying that's going to happen because I haven't fully decided on anything yet, but they're not blood. People can't really help who they fall in love with. I definitely do agree that the Shu generals died at their own faults, but story wise I'm writing from the Guans point of view. If someone murders your father I think the natural reaction is to want revenge. I actually have watched a few episodes of the TV series and enjoyed it. Though Guan Ping's death in the series is different from the book, but it was a good death. I'm more or less basing this off the book, as I am most familiar with that and because the game is mostly based off the book.  
**Seseorang:** Mmmhmmm. Indeed it is painful. Things have declined quite badly. I do believe I winced a bit writing it myself because it felt like a very awkward scene even for me. *laughs* The ending I think will be the most surprising part of it all. But that is what I've been building up to.  
**Fier66:** Yes. Feel dem feels. Feel them my friend. Feel them. Drown in those feels. I'll row over there and pull you aboard my ship. Actually I have several ships for DW, but you probably can tell by the wishy washy switchy going on all over this fic.

* * *

Guan Ping slowly reached down and pulled the dagger from his belt and the room tensed as he stood and slowly approached Liu Shan. Some guards started to move in closer and a general nearby stood up suddenly.

Xingcai also took a step forward and Ping didn't even spare her a glance as he reached the steps up to the throne and then did what everyone least expected. He dropped to a knee and presented the weapon before Liu Shan.

"This is a fine blade… Lord Liu Shan… you should have it… for when you plunge a dagger into the heart of Wei… with the blood of Wu… and of Guan Yu." He stated and everyone slowly relaxed, though still remained a bit cautious. Liu Shan rose to take it, but Huang Hao stopped him.

"Lord Liu Shan… don't filthy your hands." Huang Hao said and waved his hand for one of the guards to take the blade instead.

"I just want to know… Lord Liu Shan… was it worth it?" Ping asked and Huang Hao scowled at him in disgust.

"Guards get this man out of here!" Huang Hao ordered and two guards quickly grabbed him by both arms and lead him out of the chambers.

His siblings abruptly got up and quickly followed after them, just getting out the door as the guards discarded their brother in the middle of the hallway unceremoniously.

"Ping are you alright?!" Xing questioned and checked him over.

"It isn't my blood. It's fine." He responded with a sniffle as he wiped his hands over his mouth and nose, but the blood had long since dried and become flaky.

"Don't do that. Don't push us away." Suo pleaded.

"I'll help you clean up…" Yinping said, though she had previously been staying quiet in the background in shock of the situation.

"I don't need your help-hey!" Ping complained as she grabbed his arm and dragged him along; giving him no choice and he had to hurry to keep his pace with her as she pulled him. He tried with his strength to try and escape, except her strength just beat his and there was no escape so he was forced to give in.

Xing turned to Suo and grabbed his shoulder and lead him back towards the council room. "Suo I think we need to stay in and listen to the rest of the meeting and find out what's going on… something isn't right here."

"What about Yinping?" Suo questioned.

"Pft, Ping is no match for her. She'll be fine."

"Ah, that's probably right."

* * *

Guan Ping sighed and crossed his arms while waiting for Yinping to return with clean clothes for him as she insisted on helping him get cleaned up. Even if he absolutely despised the thought of help in any way, shape or form right now. He heard a sound at the door and glanced up, shocked to see Zhuge Liang there.

"Chancellor… what are you doing here?" He asked, shifted a bit on the bed uneasily.

"I came to congratulate you on your victory. It was quite a feat considering you're injuries have yet to heal." Zhuge Liang told him. "May I have a look at your injuries?"

"What for?"

"Are you afraid I will come to the same conclusion that you are speculating?" Zhuge Liang pulled up a stool and Guan Ping allowed him to look over the injuries. Zhuge Liang did indeed take his time checking over the injuries. "You are trying to save a dead horse as if it were still alive."

"It keeps giving out on me… I… can't fight on it anymore can I?"

"No. I'm afraid not." Zhuge Liang "I'm very sorry. Perhaps you can still be a cavalry general."

"I'm not a General anymore… Guan Ping is dead." He replied, glancing away as Zhuge Liang stood and there was a moment of silence before he finally decided to ask. "Why did you stop persuing making Yinping marry into Wu?"

"Wine makes words from secrets." Zhuge Liang replied and Guan Ping furrowed his brow in confusion before he caught on and choked on his own words.

"Y-you saw that?! It isn't like that at all!" He tried to argue then, knowing that somehow or another Zhuge Liang must have seen that incident a while back in the dining hall.

"I am aware of more than you realize. You can't sneak things past me so easily." He set a hand on Ping's shoulder. "I have heard news that Lu Meng is ill and will not survive much longer. You already have your vengeance. If you want to be there for your family… destroy the seed of evil, or it will grow up to your ruin."

He let out a shocked breath as Zhuge Liang said his farewell and turned to leave him to his thoughts after his words of advice. So it seemed that Zhuge Liang had figured out his plans and that he was going to kill Lu Meng. That had been what he really came to say to him. More importantly… if Lu Meng was dying and wouldn't last much longer… he would have to hasten his training so that he could kill him before his illness did. If it were only an illness… it wouldn't count for him. It wasn't enough. It had to be by his hand.

Outside in the hall Zhuge Liang glanced at Yinping as he passed by wordlessly, it seemed she had arrived somewhere in the midst of their conversation and stopped to listen in, because she definitely looked surprised… and embarrassed.

She stepped into the room with clean clothes and set them on the bed behind Ping, who seemed entirely lost in thought. He finally sighed and shook his head as she picked up a cloth and dipped it into the bucket of water and scrubbed the blood from his cheeks and chin, as if a mother cat cleaning a kitten. For some reason it really frustrated him.

Yinping did want to confront him and ask him about what Zhuge Liang said, but she was afraid she would just make him mad if she did that. It wasn't hard to tell that he was in a very tensed mood right now, but it suddenly all made sense why he had been that way. Deep down he had known that he couldn't be a soldier anymore. She noticed his fists clench over his knees and the faint shake of muscles from anger, but his eyes were averted, focused on the water in the buck which grew a darker shade of red each time she dipped the cloth in to clean it. He always tried so hard to hold in his fits of rage from everyone, but he had them the same as everyone else.

There was only a momentary pause, before she tilted his chin up and cleaned the blood off his neck as well. He let out a breath and she paused at a particular spot and then dropped the cloth back into the bucket, before she stood up and went around to pick up the clothes she'd put on the bed and hand them to him, but her hand paused on the fabric.

"Ping… what the chancellor said… about your leg… is it true?" She asked quietly and there was a moment of silence before he knocked the bucket over abruptly and she looked away as he kicked a chair over and proceeded to smash it to pieces. She dared to glance at him and found he was like a caged, wounded tiger as he destroyed the chairs in the room, broke the table, several vases and pictures and finally let all the anger and rage he'd been feeling out on the poor room decorations.

And when there was nothing left to break and his body was heaving with pants of exertion he dropped to his knees and pressed his hands against the cold tile floor and let out a sound somewhere between a sob and a choke. She cautiously approached him, not because she was afraid that he would turn on her, but because she had never seen him like this before. She had never seen him upset to this point, she had never seen him break down… and it scared her to see the strongest person she knew fall apart like broken glass. Hearing his laboring breathing, the hitches in his breath from when he was trying to hold back the sobs that were trying so hard to escape she realized that with all he had been facing… he had not been given time to grieve for his losses.

She kneeled behind him and carefully slid her arms around him while resting her head on his back, listening as jerky wet sighs turned into painful hiccupping and raw jagged sobs.

He slammed a fist against the floor repeatedly. "Stop it… stop… stop… stop crying you… damn… coward!" His teeth gritted in-between sentences.

At first she thought maybe he was asking her to stop and get away, but then she figured out that he was only scolding himself, angry that he couldn't control himself, angry that he was being weak. For a girl to cry, it was fine. She had cried so much after their father had died… but for a man everyone made it so that it wasn't okay. Men weren't allowed to cry.

She reached around and grabbed his arm, pulling him towards her and he fought back, he struggled, because he didn't want to face her. He didn't want her to see his face, but in the end she eventually won out and he turned towards her and she pulled him closer into her arms and for the last shred of dignity he could muster he buried his face somewhere near her shoulder to keep her from seeing.

"It's okay… it's okay…" She whispered, although her voice broke faintly. It hurt to seem him this way and her version blurred with wet warmth and she tried to blink it away. She set her focus on doing her best to comfort him even if the only way for it to fix was to let it play out. Gently she stroked a hand through his hair and pressed a kiss to the top of his head, holding him tightly and rocking him in her arms. He had always been there for her to comfort her and she wanted badly to be able to do the same for once.

It seemed like he cried for so long, like there was no end to it, but slowly but surely he cried until there was nothing left to cry out and his breathing had begun to even out. A quiet and pained groan escaped him, as he had cried so much his head was throbbing with pain. Not only that, but… he had also shamed himself with such an act. Yinping had held him this entire time and was still comforting him. He was sure he was unworthy of being called a man for such an act… and yet his body was still shaking and he felt so tired now he just wanted to fall asleep right now. But it just didn't work that way and he slowly started pulling away and straightening up.

He wiped a hand over his face quickly to try and clear any evidence, at first thinking that maybe he could pretend it never happened at all, but then it was clear by the look that she gave him that there was no way to do that.

"Do you feel better?" She asked as she watched him get up and try and right himself. Instead of answering though he just averted his eyes and seemed… uneasy and awkward about it, like he didn't want to talk about it and he probably didn't. Did all men act like that after they cried? She wondered.

He cleared his throat, rubbing the back of his head nervously "You're probably tired… you should rest…we'll… probably have some difficult days ahead…"

She got up slowly. "Do you want help cleaning up?" But when he didn't answer she got the point and briefly hugged him once more. "Goodnight. Please get a lot of sleep."

"I will…" Or he would try to at least. He was so tired though… maybe it wouldn't be so difficult. She left him then and he dropped onto the bed, holding his head in his hands. He was about to give in to his weariness when he heard a soft rap at the door.

With heavy drowsiness he worked up some energy to wipe at his face and do his best to clear up any evidence he had ever broken the taboo and done that which was entirely unbecoming of a man, before he was able to open the door.

"Xingcai…?" He asked in astonishment. There was a moment when she looked as if she were about to say something before her eyes widened so some degree and her brows raised once she saw the state of his room. "I… lost my temper… a little…"

"I can see that…" Xingcai replied. "I wanted to thank you… for not doing something rash after hearing the news."

"Did… you really think that I would?"

"I didn't know what to think at the time… you were hurt?" She questioned and he felt her touch, his cheek, ghosting over a scratch, feather light.

"I think that happened on my own fault from breaking glass. Were you worried?" He reached up to the point that his fingertips grazed the back of her hand and at that moment she quickly pulled it away, seemingly realizing the situation.

"As an old friend… I was worried. I'll stop interrupting your rest now." Xingcai turned her back to him and stepped out of the room. "Guan Ping… from now on be more careful... and please try to understand Liu Shan's actions."

He remained silent for some time, before closing the door after her once she departed. Slowly he reached a hand up to touch the place on his face where her hand had been moments ago.

* * *

Some nights later when the moon was at its fullest and it was the dead of night, away from prying eyes Guan Ping returned to the apple tree and spent some hours practicing. Lately he had become really good at using this weapon, so much so that he didn't hesitate to raise the spear and successfully target an apple between branches.

With a resigned sigh he decided that this was as good as he was going to get and that Lu Meng's life wouldn't last much longer with an illness. He would leave tonight on his journey for revenge, even if it killed him.

"We should go in soon, it is late." A voice said and he suddenly ducked behind the tree as the voices came closer.

"Just a few more minutes, I promise this is one of the best views."

Ah, that voice. He recognized it as Zhang Bao and Yinping was with him it seemed. There were no words to describe how much that frustrated him.

"Oh! You're right it is beautiful!" Yinping said in awe.

"I told you it was worth it." Bao smiled, crossing his arms and stepping closer to her. Ping gritted his teeth, why the nerve of that guy!

"It was. Thank you for showing me. I had a really fun time tonight." Yinping replied to him, turning to face him and suddenly Bao moved in closer, leaning much closer to her and Ping glanced around just in time to see it. His eyes then took in the spear in front of him, he took the chance and quickly snatched it and brought it to his chest, quickly pulling the apple off the end he leaned out just enough, to stay hidden and tossed the apple hard just as Bao was within striking distance!

There was a loud thunk suddenly. "OW!" Bao leaned held his head and rubbed the spot that was no doubt going to have a huge mark tomorrow.

"Whoa! Who knew it was so dangerous to stand under an apple tree!" Yinping gasped in shock, grabbing Bao's shoulder, jerking him down forward with her strength to brush the back of his head of sticky apple juices. "You must have a really hard head to break that apple so easily!"

"Uhhh… yeah. I guess so." Bao stared at the apple. "Really weird…"

"I guess that means it's time for us to go back." She said and then there was a long pause. "Hm, actually you go ahead and head back first."

"What? Why?"

"I'm going to stop and see Red Hare first. He hasn't been visited in a long time."

"Oh… I could come with…?"

"No. It's fine. You go ahead."

"Right… well… goodnight then." Bao leaned over and kissed her cheek briefly before walking away, still rubbing his head. Once she had decided that he was a good well enough distance away and long from seeing distance she picked up the apple and threw it hard at the tree, splattering the poor thing once and for all.

"Why did you have to interrupt?" She questioned and was meet with silence, as if she were really only talking to the tree. "Actually… what are you even doing out here? Did you follow us?"

"No… of course not… it's the opposite… you came across me." Ping sighed and leaned against the tree, staring into the distant night stars.

"You _almost_ got away with it too."

"Almost." He echoed, closing his eyes and staying against the tree.

"Why did you do it?" She waited for him to come out, but it seemed that he didn't want to. He was probably still embarrassed for crying in front of her… and also the fact that he'd been caught just now.

"He was going to kiss you." Was his response, as if that were a logical answer.

"And what if I wanted him to…?" Yinping asked and he breathed in deeply, pushing himself off the tree and coming around to face her.

"You want to kiss that kind of guy?" He knew he shouldn't be so surprised by her words. "He hasn't proved himself in battle. He's not… good enough for you."

"Then who is?" There was a short moment of silence as he didn't seem like he was going to answer her and she decided to pressure him. "You?"

"Why would you even say that?" It was his turn to ask in bewilderment.

"Because you're acting almost like you're jealous." Perhaps those weren't fully her own thoughts as much as they were Sanniang's guesses of Ping's strange behavior. It seemed that he took strong offense to that because he suddenly stepped forward.

"It's not like that!" He started out in a shout. "Yinping I'm not going to be around to protect you forever and I need someone who _can_. If Bao can be that person then _fine_, but he needs to prove it to me first."

Those words startled her greatly. "What are you talking about…?"

He seemed to realize he had let too much slip. "Just forget I said anything."

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm not going to do anything." He replied and started to walk away, but Yinping didn't seem to be interested in letting him just walk after a comment like that, as she grabbed his arm and held onto it to keep him from going anywhere. "Let go."

"I'm not going to let you go." Her tone was stubborn and he huffed out a breath and grabbed her by, prying her off of him and quickly backing her up until her back hit the tree.

"You can't… stop me… I'm-" before he could even finish she quickly wrapped her arms around his middle and squeezed _hard_, leaving him with nothing other than to sputter and groan in pain while trying to squirm out of the crushing grip to no avail. When he started to run out of air he finally gave in, there was no way to beat her strength. That was just the way it was. "O-o-okay!" He managed to wheeze out and he finally felt the crushing pressure which had come close to breaking his ribs release.

He doubled over to catch his breath; he slowly lowered himself to the ground with a hand out to steady himself.

"You are going to fight Wu aren't you?" Yinping questioned him and he sighed and looked down, not really wanting to answer.

"Yes. I'm going to assassinate Lu Meng in revenge for our father; even if it's going to be the last thing that I ever do."

"I've been thinking about it for a long time… when I cried over father every night for weeks." She began, sitting beside him, referring to her pain, so perhaps he wouldn't feel so bad about breaking down in front of her. "I wanted to kill him too for plotting against father, but… right now Lu Meng is dying… so we don't have to take revenge and I don't want to lose you too…"

"This is something I have to do." He replied and she suddenly pressed a hand over his heart.

"If you don't let go of the hate it's going to kill you. In here."

"You can't stop me."

"Then… I'm going to go with you."

"It's too dangerous."

"Well you can't stop _me_." She told him stubbornly and he paused before he realized that it was true that he couldn't stop her. He pursed his lips and she stood up with a giddy smile of victory, before reaching her hands out to him to help him up.

He let out a sigh and decided he'd just find a way around putting her in danger as he reached up and grabbed her hand, letting out a startled sound when she pulled him up with ease, so easily in fact she almost tossed him.

"Come on then." He picked up an apple and headed down the hill to the stables, finding Red Hare waiting for them with a quiet nicker of excitement. He handed the apple to Red Hare and the horse happily accepted the offering while Ping pulled out the hidden fear from behind the stale, readying Red Hare for the long journey. "This is the last journey Red Hare. I promise."

"You have a plan right?" Yinping questioned, leaning on his back as he tired the gear onto Red Hare securely.

"We'll pretend to be refuges from the war. Then we will easily have access into Wu. From there we'll travel to the capital and once I'm close enough I'll take his life."

"I know that the chancellor says you can't be a soldier… but you always give such good advice I think that you could be a strategist. Even father was glad for it."

"Father never listened to my advice." He replied, pausing momentarily. "Aside from that… I'm supposed to be dead."

"It doesn't mean you have to live like you're dead." She frowned. "I know I am weak, but I'll do my best."

"Th-that's a joke isn't it? By far… you're stronger than I am…"

"You think so?"

"I know so." He finished tightening all the ropes and pulled out a letter from inside his armor to hand to her. "You better sign it too, so that our brothers know you're safe with me… mostly…" He added to the end, because it wasn't actually all that safe, but it was best for them to know where they were.

"Okay." She said and left a mark on it that she certified as a signature, while Ping mounted up on Red Hare and waited for her to set the letter in Red Hare's stall. He then held out his hand and helped her up onto the tall steed before giving Red Hare a light kick that started the horse into a trot out the gates and on their way to the next journey. The final journey.

* * *

To Be Continued...


End file.
